‘Digital Amnesia’, A Documentary About the Limited Shelf Life of Digital Data

Digital Amnesia is a documentary directed by Dutch filmmaker Bregtje van der Haak that explores the impact that the limited shelf life of digital technology will have on the way we store information, as well as the people and organizations who are attempting to preserve that data.

This VPRO Backlight documentary tracks down the amnesiac zeitgeist starting at the Royal Tropical Institute in Amsterdam, whose world-famous 250-year old library was lost to budget cuts. The 400.000 Books were saved from the shredder by Ismail Serageldin, director of the world-famous Library of Alexandria, who is turning the legendary library of classical antiquity into a new knowledge hub for the digital world.

The documentary features organizations such as The Archive Team, Internet Archive, and the Long Now Foundation, all of which are devoted to data preservation.

via Brewster Kahle